Tampa Tribune, Fla., Joe Henderson column

9:45 a.m. EST, May 3, 2012|Joe Henderson, The Tampa Tribune

You take the whole package if you choose to live in Florida. That means love bugs, snowbirds doing 45 in the left-hand lane and the fairly good chance that guy you just accidentally bumped on the sidewalk is packing heat.

It would be nice if that person didn't turn out to be a hair-triggered Rambo wannabe who just got his car towed and thinks the law says someone should pay. The fact remains that concealed weapons are legal if you have a permit.

So it was no surprise Wednesday when Gov. Rick Scott swatted the request by Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn for an executive order prohibiting the transportation of firearms in restricted areas during the Republican National Convention.

"The short answer to your request is found in the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and in Article I, Section 8 of the Florida Constitution," Scott wrote in a response to Buckhorn. "These provisions guarantee that the government may not infringe on the people's right to keep and bear arms."

For emphasis, Scott put bear in italics.

Buckhorn is too smart to think Scott would issue such an order anyway. Even if Gov. Bang-Bang wasn't completely pro-gun (which he is), the edict would have been challenged in court with a good chance of being overturned.

"Mayor Buckhorn is good at using his First Amendment rights, but right after that comes the Second," Pasco County Republican State Committeeman Bill Bunting said. "I don't trample on his rights. Don't trample on ours.

"I don't even know why he's overly concerned. We can bring our guns into the Capitol building in Tallahassee and there has never been an incident."

So what's Buckhorn's game?

We could take it at face value, I guess.

Perhaps Buckhorn figures the combination of scorching August weather, confrontational protestors and a high-visibility conclave like the RNC increases the potential for someone to decide to settle things the way they did in Dodge City.

Buckhorn also recently said that allowing guns in the event zone near the convention, while prohibiting things like plastic pipes and aerosol cans, makes Tampa "look silly."

While that is 100 percent on the mark, looking silly doesn't bother us much. It is kind of a way of life here, or have we forgotten the 10-year misadventure and millions of dollars it took to build an art museum? Or Kevin White?

Or the time the elevated lane of the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway fell down and went boom? Or the cracked Tampa Bay Water reservoir?

Our silly meter has a high threshold. Just sayin' ...

So was this a serious move by the mayor or a grandstand stunt? Who's to say it couldn't have been both.

Buckhorn is correct when he cites the dangerous mix of guns, protests and politics. Scott is correct that people have a right to carry arms.

The convention lasts just four days, so you might think there is some middle ground on this issue.